Easter 2023 ✝️🌅
Happy Easter! He is risen!
We attended 8:30 mass this morning to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. The church was full – it was great to see! Shecklet #1 ran the cameras for the livestream and we sat in the pew directly in front of him (at the back of the church.)
After coming home, the kids got changed and hunted for their Easter baskets. Shecklet #4 found hers before mass. We then headed to Grandma Lois’ house to join a few other family members for Easter lunch/dinner. The kids had fun playing with one of their littlest cousins – hunting for eggs, going to the park, and just making her giggle.
The egg hunt this year was full of laughs. Some of the plastic eggs that were hidden in the backyard were found by squirrels who managed to gnaw their way through the plastic and eat the chocolate candy inside!
We even got to see one of Jake’s younger cousins (who was our flower girl almost 20 years ago.) Yes, 2022 is the year of our 20th anniversary! It doesn’t seem possible.)
It was wonderful to be back in our church to celebrate Easter Sunday this year.
My MIL had her second knee replaced a week and a half ago, but she and my FIL were willing to let us bring food and gather at her house on Easter Sunday. Two of Jake’s sisters, a BIL, and the kids’ cousin, as well as our family friends, all joined us for the afternoon. The weather was amazing!
The kids hunted for eggs. Aunt Kari made things challenging for the older kids!
For some reason, this kid finds chainsaws extremely interesting. (The way she says the word itself is hilarious.) Grandpa Dave let her rev his up today. I wonder if she has a future in tree care or firewood sales.
Mass together at home – joining our parish family virtually.
Brunch – egg bake, fruit smoothies and orange rolls.
Movie afternoon – Aunt Larissa joined us.
Jake grilled for dinner. Steaks and hotdogs because of course, it’s snowing!
We took the kids to an egg hunt at our old parish this morning. We arrived slightly after the event began and it looked like there were plenty of eggs to go around. Unfortunately, by the time we went inside, dropped off our food shelf donations and went back outside, all but a couple of eggs had been collected. I felt pretty bummed for my kids (especially since other children were walking around with baskets over-flowing with eggs) but they didn’t seem to mind. I really am proud of their behavior in situations like that. They could have easily thrown a tantrum or gotten emotional over not being able to find any eggs, but instead, they just rolled with it and moved on. Perhaps one silver-lining that they discovered once we went back in the building to have a treat and work on a couple of crafts, is that this year, they had REAL bunnies for the kids to have their photo taken with.
Easter morning came early for us this year. In order to make it to mass on time (7:30 am) with all six of us dressed in our Easter finery, my alarm went off just a tad before 5:30 am. I longed to hit the snooze button just one more time (I had already pressed it 4 times) but I manged to get myself out of bed to start the day. The kids were wonderfully chipper and got ready without incident. If there’s one perk to attending the “early” mass on Easter, it’s being able to arrive at the church 10 minutes prior to mass beginning and still get a front row pew. And we had all the space we needed, which comes in handy now that Shecklet #4 is a wiggler/mover.
After mass, the kids searched for their Easter baskets and were treated to some new duds, flip-flops, gum, Holy Heroes cd’s and a few chalk activities for the driveway.
A little while later, we packed up and headed to Jake’s grandparents’ house to have brunch with family and friends. The weather was gorgeous – we couldn’t have asked for a nicer day.
Once we returned home, we let the older kids break out the sidewalk chalk paint. (We have yet to bust open the new box of chalk. I don’t know who is more excited – me or the kids!)
I was hoping to snap a few more photos today, but instead chose to just enjoy the moment and conversations taking place around me. I did capture a few pictures of relatives we don’t get to see very often as well as one of Lincoln with Uncle Mark. They were sporting similar hair styles 🙂
We roused the crew at a very unusual time this morning. We had breakfast and were out the door in time to start greeting people at 7am for Easter morning mass. The kids did a great job saying “Happy Easter” and handing out mass leaflets. I was really impressed with the way Nolan took ownership of his “job.” And Lincoln was a super “leaflet restocker” for us.
After mass, we went home and treated the kids to orange rolls for breakfast. After a failed attempt at getting Ingrid to nap earlier than usual, we headed to my parents’ house for an early Easter dinner. We dined on ham, scalloped potatoes, sweet potato casserole (a favorite of mine), cranberry relish & cabbage slaw (also a fave and recipe of my Great Aunt Frances’.)
Later in the afternoon, Tony & Kristin joined us and were so sweet to our kids, as usual. They have such a knack for entertaining them. They “decorated” the sun room and dining room, which seems to have become somewhat of a tradition when they’re together at my parents’ house. The kids also smothered icing all over enhanced and then ate the rice krispy bunny that Tony made them. Kristin put together the cutest Easter gift bag for them, complete with stickers, fruit strips, and grow your own grass & flower kits.
Thank you Lord, for giving us the opportunity again this year to be together as a family and celebrate the ultimate sacrifice Christ made on the cross. He is risen! Happy Easter!